Find your (mini) people.
When I was around 11 or 12 years old, my grandparents built a dollhouse on their dining room table. It inspired me to learn to crochet from my grandmother, who taught me how to make the one and only thing I have ever crocheted: a bedspread for a future dollhouse. She, however, crocheted a staircase runner that had one color on the flat part, another on the vertical for their dollhouse, which I ended up inheriting. She was a master.
That house inspired me to build my own first house out of a cardboard box. I remember taking a Polaroid shot of the living room, with my pinecone / pipe cleaner Christmas tree, and showing it to my 6th grade teacher. He asked if it was a real tree; he was very kind.
I got my second dollhouse easily 20 years later, when I was getting married. I figured that if I was upgrading my life, then my dollhouse people should, too (never mind that I didn’t have people; I love the houses). I was a solo, budding miniaturist, who had no concept of there being an entire miniature world out there.
In my professional world, there is a huge emphasis on community building, finding your people… connecting. I just hadn’t realized it existed in the miniworld until it found me, through the incredible Carol Meade Gillon and Julie Hammons Johnson, who, along with me, have Joseph Angel dollhouses. They introduced me to the vast world of miniature shows with classes. Who knew?!? I certainly did not. They opened up a whole new realm of possibilities, inspiration, and shopportunities, and I could not be more grateful because since then, I have met so many wonderful people that have shared knowledge and have made me feel, well, normal for having a ton of houses (looking at, you, Alysha of Maple and Moss).
That is why, when putting together this website, it was really important to include a place to help others learn what is out there, where our people are, and how we can continue learning through the wonderful workshops that so many shows offer.
The result is this page: https://www.atmmuseum.org/map
It is not a complete list and I will continue to add as I become aware of more. I also hope to add retreats and other things and am definitely open to ideas. I hope this map helps you find miniature opportunities near your, or perhaps even gives you reasons to travel to museums or shows or shops!
